A blow-by-blow account of the creation and progress of "The Other Side Of Nashville (An Incomplete History of the Music City’s Rock Underground)" book and discography.

Thursday, February 07, 2013

The Other Side of Nashville FAQ

Since we've been getting quite a few questions about The Other Side of Nashville book, we thought we'd make it easy and just create a blog post that answers some of the most common queries...

What is The Other Side of Nashville?

The Other Side of Nashville is a big-ass book, 8.5" x 11" and 620 pages, sub-titled "An Incomplete History & Discography of the Nashville Rock Underground 1976-2006." The book covers the growth and evolution of Nashville's non-country music scene as seen by the Rev. Keith A. Gordon, who was there on the street in the 1980s and '90s as it happened. The final tally for the book is 500+ artists/bands listed and around 540 photos of
bands, CD and LP covers, posters, and such in this profusely-illustrated
volume.

Who did that cool cover art for the book?

The Other Side of Nashville cover was created by artist Tim Shawl, an old buddy that was referred to the Reverend by another old friend, Jeff Ousley. Tim took my initial raw idea and created a dynamic cover for the book that makes it stand out. Tim, some may remember, created some of the most memorable covers for the old Metro magazine in the late 1980s and early 1990s, which is where we first met.

The cover says the book is by "Rev. Keith A. Gordon & Friends"...what does that mean?

The bulk of The Other Side of Nashville was written by the "Reverend of Rock 'n' Roll," Rev. Keith A. Gordon. But during the six years of creating the book, I had help from more than a few friends. Nuno Monteiro wrote a great piece on R. Stevie Moore, Nashville's first bona-fide original rocker. Greg Walker contributed a lengthy bio that covers his participation in the city's rock underground, while Mark Medley writes about his time with Raging Fire.

The late Chip Chilton tried to piss off everybody with his memories of the local scene, and musicians like Mark "Smiley" Shenkel and Stephen Anderson wrote about their time in the spotlight. Heather Lose contributed some cool photos, and plenty of other people lent material support to the project as it went on (Donna Frost, Scott Feinstein, Robert Logue, Graham Perry, and many others who are thanked in the book).

Where can I get a copy of The Other Side of Nashville?

In the Music City, the book is carried by The Great Escape on Charlotte Avenue, and will be carried by Howlin Books in Grimey's Too once the store opens. The book has a cover price of $29.95 and can be ordered from Amazon.com by using this link, or you can get a copy directly from the Reverend by using the PayPal link below. If the cover price for a print copy of the book is a little steep for your budget, we've worked a deal with Zunior.com to offer OSN as an eBook in PDF format at a substantially lower price. Get over to Zunior.com and tell Dave that we sent ya!

Here's the deal on direct orders...the cost of this monster 620-page trade paperback book is $33.00 with shipping
at the Media Mail rate (slower than Priority, but still pretty fast!).
As promised, 5% of the $29.95 cover price, or $1.50 per book
sold, will be donated to various Kickstarter projects to pass along the
love shown me by those good folks that helped fund completion of the
book through Kickstarter. The PayPal link below is good for U.S. orders only -- if you're in
Canada or England, please email me at reverendk-at-mondogordo-dot-com
and I'll return a quote on the cost of sending you a copy directly from
the printer.

Well, I dunno...I'm not convinced. Where can I read more about The Other Side of Nashville?

My old buddy Ron Wynnspoke with the Reverend for the Nashville Scene, his article shedding a lot of light on both the book and the Nashville rock scene from my perspective.

Another old friend, Steve Morley, adapted a piece that he'd written for the Americana Gazette that was published in the Murfreesboro Pulse magazine as "The Foe of Music Row." A well-written piece about the book and a look at the Reverend's long history in the Music City.

Joe Montague of Riveting Riffs magazine in Canada interviewed the Reverend for his cool webzine. Our conversation covered a lot of ground, including the roots of
my publishing obsession, my first efforts as a teenaged rock critic,
and a lot on the evolution of the Nashville rock underground. You can
check out the interview at the Riveting Riffs website...